Canzano: LIV Golf at Pumpkin Ridge all about talking points -- and I've got 'em

Pumpkin Ridge under the microscope.

NORTH PLAINS — When the news broke in March that Pumpkin Ridge had signed on to host the first LIV Golf event on American soil, the angry phone calls were routed through the club’s Ghost Creek Golf Shop.

One caller made a snide remark to a staffer about a bone saw. Another, scolded a shop employee about the course taking money from Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. Another caller — a respected member — lectured an employee who answered the phone and said that “true Oregonians” would never stand for an event like this.

Escalante Golf, Inc, the Texas-based corporation that owns Pumpkin Ridge, soon assured staff and members at Pumpkin Ridge that hosting the event was beneficial. Ownership touted a line of long-overdue course improvements that would be made in front of this week’s event. What Escalante Golf didn’t tell members is exactly how much it was being paid to shut down the course for a couple of weeks.

Neither Escalante Golf nor the media relations team for the LIV event have responded to my interview requests. But a source close to the negotiation tells me that Escalante Golf received $4.5 million for the use of Pumpkin Ridge over three years. Also, those badly needed course improvements — new carpets, new decks, fresh coats of paint on the clubhouses — were funded by the event.

What do you think about when you hear “Pumpkin Ridge”?

I used to think “Tiger Woods.” He won the 1996 U.S. Amateur on the members-only side, Witch Hollow, beating Steve Scott in an epic final match. A few days later, Nike introduced Woods with that unforgettable “Hello, World” campaign.

Now, when I hear “Pumpkin Ridge”?

I think — “LIV Golf.”

The event has fractured the membership at Pumpkin Ridge and changed the image of the club. I spoke with several long-time club members who aren’t happy and say they turned down complimentary tickets to this week’s event. I’m told by insiders that a couple dozen members canceled their memberships. Staff and members have also expressed discomfort with hosting the event.

Said one staffer: “I don’t tell people where I work anymore.”

David McDonald, the president of Escalante Golf, met with course employees in Oregon after the announcement of the event. McDonald and Pumpkin Ridge general manager Jeff Muller tried to reassure staff members that the LIV was just another golf event.

According to one employee present for the meeting, McDonald said to employees, “Money is money. Saudi money is everywhere.”

Later, Muller distributed a printed list of talking points to Pumpkin Ridge staff members. I obtained a copy of the “LIV Golf Talking Points.” Its aim was to deflect criticism of Pumpkin Ridge hosting the event. But staff members joked later about how ignorant and unaware they were being coached to appear.

The “talking points” didn’t include anything about Fallon Smart. She was a 15-year old girl who was hit and killed in the summer of 2016 by a Lexus traveling 60 mph on Hawthorne Blvd. The driver, Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, was a Saudi national attending Portland Community College.

The Saudi Arabian consulate posted his $100,000 bail. Then, a couple of weeks before Noorah’s trial, an SUV picked him up. He later surfaced in Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials believe the Saudi government facilitated Noorah’s escape. Smart’s family never got justice.

Because of this, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden told me the marriage between Pumpkin Ridge and the LIV event was “a betrayal.”

Long-time PGA Tour member and golf broadcaster, Peter Jacobsen, told me in May: “I don’t think any of these events are going to happen.”

He ended up wrong. The event marched on this week. Tickets remain on sale. And staff at Pumpkin Ridge who met with LIV organizers in planning sessions tell me they’re being told about a much larger goal.

Said one person with knowledge: “They want to eventually franchise out the teams like the NBA and have owners with sponsors. Teams can draft players and trade players. Lots of gambling opportunities.”

The teams in Portland were given names such as “Aces” and “Iron Heads” and “Fireballs” and “Torque.” Images of the teams were rolled out via social media this week.

LIV Golf @LIVGolfInv

Primed for Portland 🔥 #LIVGolf

This is a money grab all the way by Escalante Golf. That decision has left a line of staff and members at Pumpkin Ridge holding the bag. Prior to being approached by the LIV event, Escalante Golf was seeking financing to make all those deferred improvements they let slip for so many years.

It wanted new paint on the clubhouses. It needed new decks and carpets. Long-time members bellyached about the initiation fees they plunked down 30 years ago and shook their heads. Escalante Golf sold out. It found a way to get the course and club improvements done on someone else’s dime.

That should have been “talking point” No. 1.

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